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Playing at Badminton

28/4/2025

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The Badminton Estate is owned by the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort. On one day of the year, they open their gardens to the public, with proceeds going to charity. We bought our tickets a few months ago and had a lovely visit in the sunshine yesterday. We had a picnic in the grounds and later met up with our friends Krista and Stuart
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Back hair again

8/4/2025

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JiaJia returned yesterday from her 5 week trip to China, complete with a new hairstyle!

She was able to get a lot of business done, catch up with friends/customers/Mum and fix some broken things in our Kunming house.

She is looking to make 2-3 such trips to China each year, staying a couple of months each time.
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Got hot pot

28/2/2025

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With JiaJia leaving for China today, JD has recently been working his way through a wish list of his favourite Chinese meals (before I subject him to 5-6 weeks of the limited western dishes I know how to cook!) This one was hotpot. Most of the ingredients had to be sourced from the Chinese Supermarket in Bristol so, by the end, the cost of the meal totalled nearly £100! But it was a nice little reminder of the life we have now left behind. 
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Not bads

18/2/2025

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JD is on school holidays this week. So today we headed for the local badminton courts. JD plays after school every Monday, so has improved quite a bit since his time learning the game in China. I lasted 30 seconds before pinging my hamstring again (it went on last Saturday's Park Run, too). I had to watch JD and JiaJia play instead.
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Jia Jiart

12/2/2025

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Seems like Jia Jia has started a new business...
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Oh come all ye faithful...

16/12/2024

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JiaJia, JD and I joined Krista & Stuart and some of their church friends yesterday evening for a hour of Carol Singing in the neighbourhood. It was a very traditional event for Jiajia to participate in (despite not knowing any of the songs) and we enjoyed hot chocolate and party nibbles at the church afterwards.
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Berry good

8/12/2024

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Fabulous wreath home-made by JiaJia this week.
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Drawing lots

22/10/2024

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Jiajia and I went along to Chippenham Artists Club for the first time yesterday. I'm hoping it might be an outside hobby that Jiajia feels comfortable attending; making new friends, getting out of the house and igniting a dormant passion for painting.

We were made to feel very welcome and produced the bottle pictures below!
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Grand Tour - "heaven"

10/5/2024

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Yesterday, we moved from a small but well-located hotel to a gorgeous 5* hotel for a few nights of luxury. Jiajia and I left JD there to rest this morning while we explored TianTan - The Temple of Heaven - where the Emperor would traditionally pray for a good harvest each year. 
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Its design and colour are pretty unique, and it was built without any metal nails. After exploring the surrounding park, Jiajia and I returned to the hotel and I took JD for a swim in their indoor pool. We were the only ones there.
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Sage advice

9/4/2024

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Last week was "Tomb Sweeping" Festival in China, where folk traditionally visit and tidy the graves of their ancestors. I drove Jiajia  to her Grandma's and Druncle's graves, possibly for the final time. Jiajia laid snacks, drink and flowers at the gravestones, and burned various incense. 

Before we left the cemetery we were encouraged to hop over a bowl of burning sage three times to dispel any bad spirits (for a price, of course) which was a new one to me!

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Visa please her

29/3/2024

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Earlier this week Jiajia's Spousal Visa application was accepted. It took me months to compile all the necessary documents and though I was 90% sure it would be accepted, that 10% doubt would have been a huge problem for our plans had it been rejected. So there was a lot of relief when it came though. We'll be heading to the UK in June.
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The visa  means Jiajia can live and work in the UK for 2​½ years, at which point we need to extend her visa by a further 2​½ years. After the full 5 years she should be eligible to reside permanently in the UK. Well, that's the plan. Little by little....
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1.20 to A320

28/3/2024

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It was JD's 11th birthday today. His preferred treat was to travel to a professional flight training school for a couple of hours on an A320 simulator [see below]. The trainer showed him he various instruments and displays  for the first hour, but then wandered off for a cigarette, saying the JD was quite able to handle the aircraft by himself! A solo take-off and landing later, we had to agree. JD loved it! 
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Happy Binthday...

7/3/2024

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...to my good wife!
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Please ...a visa!

1/2/2024

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Ten weeks of compiling paperwork culminated in the upload of about 40 documents today, hoping that's enough to convince the British Government to give my good wife a Spousal Visa. We head to a biometrics centre on Tuesday for fingerprinting and iris-scanning, after which we have a nervy 3+ months to wait for a decision!
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Passing the next stage

19/1/2024

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JiaJia took her IELTS English language proficiency tests a fortnight ago and the results came through yesterday....
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  • Speaking: 6.0 (needed at least 4.0)
  • Listening: 5.5 (needed at least 4.0)
  • Writing: 5.5 (not required)
  • Reading: 4.5 (not required)
We were delighted, especially as she had very limited time to prepare,  and now my focus is on completing her Spousal Visa Application.
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Travel the world

18/11/2023

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Lovely hand-painted birthday card from the wife today.
Can't think of anyone else I'd rather travel the world with!
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Dog's dinner

27/10/2023

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Lunch by my wife - cook, artist, comedian!
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What a feet...

21/8/2023

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There's no accusing JD of being picky with his food (apart from tomatoes, which he refuses to eat!). Encouraged by Jiajia, he loves to tuck into a plate of crawfish [above], while his favourite dish at the moment is pig's ears [right]. Jiajia [top right] is chewing on ducks' feet.

I've tried most of these dishes in my time, but I don't really see the attraction of gristle and chilli. Give me a chicken breast any day!
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Eye-pad

11/8/2023

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I had my second cataract operation yesterday, two years after the first. After 10 hours of tests the day before, the actual operation only took 15 minutes, and 2 hours later they said I could go home! They had initially talked about an overnight stay, so to be home so quickly was a big bonus and hopefully a sign that the operation went very well. 
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As ever in these situations, Jiajia was a star - taking me from test to test, explaining what I had to do and giving me an arm if I felt dizzy!
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Dozen seem that long

30/7/2023

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Today is our twelfth Wedding Anniversary
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RIP "Druncle"

17/4/2023

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We learnt yesterday of the death of Jiajia's Uncle, who we have always affectionally referred to as "Druncle" on account of his love of booze. The authorities believe he actually died some time last week, but no one noticed. He was a strange guy to say the least. For a start, he wasn't actually Jiajia's uncle - just a guy who Jiajia's "Gran" once used to look after (and her Gran was actually her great Aunt). But when Gran, on her deathbed, made Jiajia promise to look after Druncle, Jiajia solemnly agreed. 
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Druncle never managed to hold down a job, so JiaJia has been sending him enough money to live on every month for decades. Druncle was an odd guy - refusing to wash or change his clothes. He spent his days sleeping, drinking and smoking. I drove him home recently after he shared a (final) Spring Festival meal with us and his flat looked and stank like a rubbish tip. Overall, a sad end to a pretty sad life.
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Surprisring

25/9/2022

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Neither Jiajia nor I ever wear much jewelry - I've never seen Jiajia wear her wedding ring since the day I bought it, over 10 years ago! So it was something of a surprise when Jiajia came home the other day with a pair of Gucci "his and her" rings for us! The inscription on the outside says "House of Love" in French, which wouldn't be my choice of words or language, but it was very generous of her and I've started wearing mine each day. Jiajia's seems to be in a cupboard somewhere!

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Teach or cheat?

21/9/2022

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Yesterday, JD's Primary School class sent out a message requiring all students to create a painting by tomorrow with the theme of "A Chinese Village". The top ten would then be entered into a Provincial Competition. But JD is currently getting home from his Homework Club at 10.00-11.00pm. There really is no time to break open the paints. So JiaJia reluctantly agreed to paint 90% of it on his behalf...
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It's taken her many hours to get it finished [see above]. But yesterday, when another parent rang Jiajia for a chat, we found out that the other parents in the class simply pay someone to do their paintings for them. They found it funny that Jiajia actually does it herself! And the school don't seem to care who does it - as long as they get the kudos of winning prizes in the competition. What's the educational purpose of all of this? Maybe just to teach people how to cheat successfully?
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Hot at the Bot

29/5/2022

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Main 3-storey greenhouse
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Seed bank
We had a very hot half-day at Kunming's Botanical Gardens today, courtesy of Jiajia's VIP status at the Bank of China, who invited us to attend a Children's Day activity there. It started with a treasure trail, followed by light refreshments. Then an hour's guided tour around the large greenhouses (the world's first greenhouse was built here in 200BC!). And finally, a craft activity, sticking and labelling botanical specimens. JD's was deemed good enough to be framed as a prize.
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Jiajia, JD and I had a further explore of the park by ourselves for an hour before taking a taxi to a newly opened noodle bar for a late lunch, and then back home for a well-earned rest!
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Carnivorous plants (pitcher plant, venus fly trap, sundew)  
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They arn't art

15/5/2022

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    paul hider

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    Paul Hider started this blog to share his rather odd life living in China for over 20 years. Since returning to the UK in 2024, the blog now records his more "normal" lifestyle!

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